I might need some help, certainly some advice

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Hey there and wow that was quite a drop. Anytime your +2 is the same or lower than the preshot number, it can indicate an active cycle. Glad you got him up again and as Lucy said wait 30 minutes after the last test and make sure he is staying above 50 . The honey will wear off quickly. When you retest and if he is dropping but not under 50, just give him some LC food to help him surf as he is approaching nadir and you don't won't to send him to the moon by overcarbing him.

Next time, if you don't have any HC food ( that would be any of the FF gravy lovers or any food that is 18% and higher in carbs ) you can just add a few drop of the honey into his LC food to boost him up.

Here is the new food chart from Dr. Lisa Pierson recently updated and you can look up other brands and see what the carb count is.

New Food Chart

I can't stress enough to you the importance of testing more often than just pre shot tests. If you will start posting over in the Lantus and Levemir forum we can help you with dosing as it looks like you are switching up the dose back and forth and that doesn't work well with Lantus. I am so glad that you were home today to test and catch this low drop. :cat:
 
I just read the whole thread and you don't need to withhold food during a curve. That could be the reason he went so low today. When I did curves, I would time my meals so that they were not within two hours of the next test. SO glad that you found a new vet and they were nice on the phone to you. Good luck with them.
 
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Squalliesmom said:
Erika, can you get another test?
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Sorry that I didn't test very soon, I didn't know how often I should test so I was going to wait 40 minutes. I just got the test done and he's at 158

The only thing that I gave him after the tsp of honey was 1/2 of a TBSP of LC food with 2 drops of honey. He hasn't had anything else in at least 40 minutes or so and I'm not feeding him. He hasn't asked for food either.
 
Great! I think you're good for the rest of the cycle, but you might want to check him again in an hour or so just to be sure. Great job, dealing with the low numbers!

As Bobbie mentioned above, changing doses too quickly is not recommended when you're using Lantus. This is probably one of the reasons that you are having trouble getting Peanut regulated again. Lantus is a depot insulin; you need to hold the same dose for a few days to see how well it is working. When we do dose increases ar decreases, we do it in increments of 0.25U, this makes it less likely that you will bypass the correct dose for your kitty. If you come to the Lantus and Levemir forum, there are several "stickys" that would probably be very helpful to you, and, if you post on that forum, there are lots of people with extensive knowledge of dosing with Lantus who can advise you. :):):)
 
Squalliesmom said:
Great! I think you're good for the rest of the cycle, but you might want to check him again in an hour or so just to be sure. Great job, dealing with the low numbers!

As Bobbie mentioned above, changing doses too quickly is not recommended when you're using Lantus. This is probably one of the reasons that you are having trouble getting Peanut regulated again. Lantus is a depot insulin; you need to hold the same dose for a few days to see how well it is working. When we do dose increases ar decreases, we do it in increments of 0.25U, this makes it less likely that you will bypass the correct dose for your kitty. If you come to the Lantus and Levemir forum, there are several "stickys" that would probably be very helpful to you, and, if you post on that forum, there are lots of people with extensive knowledge of dosing with Lantus who can advise you. :):):)
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I'm going to check him again at 6pm and if he's fine then I'll probably leave him alone until his night time dose which by the way, I guess I should maybe cut in half??? Perhaps that really has been the issue this entire time and he's been rebounding. I really honestly don't know what to give him tonight .5. .75? Do you have any idea based on what happened today?
I did make my way over to the Lantus forum and said hello over there as per Bobbie's suggestion. I also read the stickies and plan to do some more research into the way that Lantus works. Thank you guys for all of the help today. I know that this fight isn't over, not even close but I'm not giving up.
 
It's difficult to know what dose to give him because there really isn't enough information in his spreadsheet to know what's going on with him. If he was my cat I definitely wouldn't give more than 0.75U, maybe even 0.5U. I would rather see him in higher numbers tonight than too low and at risk.
 
Squalliesmom said:
It's difficult to know what dose to give him because there really isn't enough information in his spreadsheet to know what's going on with him. If he was my cat I definitely wouldn't give more than 0.75U, maybe even 0.5U. I would rather see him in higher numbers tonight than too low and at risk.
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I totally agree plus I'll be asleep and I won't be able to help him. He's been getting doses between 1.0 and 2.5 sometimes depends on where I have seen his BG. I came home from vacation a few weeks ago to find him at almost 500 so yeah I gave him 2.5 units that day. But I think I'll start him out at .5 twice a day and see what happens. Thank you.
 
Glad you were home testing, Erika :). I meant to come back to check in his +4 but got side tracked after Maury's lunch. It is a scary experience but it's a good one to put on your tool belt.
 
You are very welcome! I would suggest holding him at that dose for several cycles so you can see where it takes him, after all the bouncing is over (I have no doubt you will see some bounce from today's low). If you keep track of all his test on your spreadsheet we will be in a better position to give you help. ;) :bighug:
 
I wouldn't drop it back that much.....I'd probably go with 1U and then hold that dose for at least 3 days and see how he does

Lantus craves consistency and does best when given at the same dose both morning and evening.

If you drop back too much, you could end up fighting glucose toxicity setting in and having to go back to an even higher dose before seeing any results
 
Chris & China said:
I wouldn't drop it back that much.....I'd probably go with 1U and then hold that dose for at least 3 days and see how he does

Lantus craves consistency and does best when given at the same dose both morning and evening.

If you drop back too much, you could end up fighting glucose toxicity setting in and having to go back to an even higher dose before seeing any results
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Erika, Chris has been at this game longer than me, her advice is apt to be more on the mark than mine. I would go with her suggestion! :)
 
Yong said:
Glad you were home testing, Erika :). I meant to come back to check in his +4 but got side tracked after Maury's lunch. It is a scary experience but it's a good one to put on your tool belt.
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No doubt, I thought I was prepared until it actually happened
 
Chris & China said:
I wouldn't drop it back that much.....I'd probably go with 1U and then hold that dose for at least 3 days and see how he does

Lantus craves consistency and does best when given at the same dose both morning and evening.

If you drop back too much, you could end up fighting glucose toxicity setting in and having to go back to an even higher dose before seeing any results
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okay if you think that's best then I'll try 1 unit twice daily. I just can't be testing all day long like I did today, that was way too much for the little guy. I can test every hour right around the peak time (about 6 tests just to be sure) but 12 that's too much. I'll do what I can. Let me know what you think.
 
Yong said:
Remember, no food for last 2 hours before next pre-test :), So sounds like 1900 (7pm) is your +8 so pick up all food at 2100 (9pm)
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Wait I thought it was supposed to be a 3 hour fast so that would be 8pm? Have I been wrong?
 
Squalliesmom said:
Two hours is what we usually recommend, and you don't need to have him fasting for curves, either. :)
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okay and about the curves I was talking about the amount of pokes, poor guy. He's so wonderful and just takes it, he never fights me but I know he doesn't like it so I want to poke him as little as possible
 
Sieden said:
okay and about the curves I was talking about the amount of pokes, poor guy.
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If you can get at least 1 mid-cycle on the AM cycle and a "before bed" test on the PM cycle, that's really all that's required (well...not required but highly suggested)

You don't have to do a curve at all....although if you can't get at least those 4 per day, it's probably a good idea to get one at least once a week, but that's testing every 2 hours for 12 hours or every 3 hours for 18 hours
 
Chris & China said:
If you can get at least 1 mid-cycle on the AM cycle and a "before bed" test on the PM cycle, that's really all that's required (well...not required but highly suggested)

You don't have to do a curve at all....although if you can't get at least those 4 per day, it's probably a good idea to get one at least once a week, but that's testing every 2 hours for 12 hours or every 3 hours for 18 hours
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ok
 
I don't have any kids, I can't have any and after today's scare I feel like I am checking Peanut like a worried mother. I keep checking to make sure that he's still breathing lol. He's got me so spoiled.
 
Sieden said:
I got the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers
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That's what most of us use!!

When it's time, what I do is pop the top, put it back down and then "squeeze" the gravy part into another bowl....it's messy but it gets the job done! The gravy is where most of the carbs are and you only want to give a teaspoon or two of just the gravy when you're trying to get their numbers up. When they've dropped too low, we want to bring them back up, but we don't want to "fill them up" in case we need them to continue eating later on
 
Chris & China said:
That's what most of us use!!

When it's time, what I do is pop the top, put it back down and then "squeeze" the gravy part into another bowl....it's messy but it gets the job done! The gravy is where most of the carbs are and you only want to give a teaspoon or two of just the gravy when you're trying to get their numbers up. When they've dropped too low, we want to bring them back up, but we don't want to "fill them up" in case we need them to continue eating later on
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That's actually kind of what I was planning on doing, like pushing a spoon down on top of it to get some of the gravy out. I figured that I would get as much of the gravy out as I could and then give the rest to my other cat so that he doesn't feel left out
 
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